When people sing together in a group, their bodies might release more of a feel-good chemical called oxytocin—but when they sing alone, this doesn’t happen. That suggests it’s the social part of singing together that boosts the chemical.

When people sing together in a choir for 20 minutes, their body’s oxytocin levels drop—unlike when they sing alone, where levels stay the same. This surprises scientists because they thought group activities like this always boost oxytocin, the ‘bonding hormone.’

When people sing, their oxytocin (a feel-good hormone) goes up, and they tend to feel better—but their stress hormone (cortisol) doesn’t seem to change much, so maybe oxytocin is the real reason singing makes us happier.

People who sing with others tend to feel better emotionally than those who sing alone, which might mean that singing with friends or a group makes you happier.

When people sing, their body releases two stress-related chemicals in saliva—oxytocin and cortisol—but these two don’t go up or down together, which means your body controls them separately, even though they’re both linked to stress.

Whether you sing alone or with others, singing might help lower your stress hormones — so it’s the singing itself, not who you’re with, that could be calming your body.